MONTCALM COUNTY, MI -- This winter has been tough enough on plow drivers, its heavy bursts of snow and dangerously cold temperatures nearly a constant battle.

Now, the rain has caused trouble, too.

Heavy showers pounded the area during a brief warm-up late last week and left snow on roofs wet and heavy. The roof on a storage building in the Montcalm County Road Commission complex, near Howard City, gave way, collapsing onto several pieces of equipment.

Manager Mark Christensen is not yet sure how much was lost inside. The building is about 60 by 120 feet and housed a few spare plow trucks, summer equipment and a fairly new pick-up style truck with a plow on the front that is used to clear neighborhood streets.

"It's going to be pretty tough to classify a dollar amount," he said.

Still, all of the equipment is insured and no one was in the building at the time. The staff is still functioning at 100 percent without the contents.

Christensen figures the roof came down sometime between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 21. The extensive clean-up process was beginning Thursday, Feb. 27.

Already, Christensen said, the county is well over its snow-clearing budget. That's money that has been eaten up in blade repairs, overtime costs for plow drivers and salt to keep the roads safe for drivers.

"It's just astronomical," he said of the costs.

For what Christensen said is the first time in his memory, plow truck drivers are growing weary of their chances at working overtime — there have just been too many.